You’ve heard that blogs are a necessity for your small business website—but how on earth do you start a blog?
You may think that blogging sounds like more time and effort than it’s worth, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. Regular blog posts are one of the best ways to generate new leads, drive traffic to your website, and stay relevant in a competitive field.
Want to learn more about how to create a blog content strategy that will help your company? If so, please keep reading to find our insider tips on blogging and content marketing.
Understand Your Readers
Before publishing anything, you need to create a content strategy for your blog that’s based on your brand. Think about who your demographics are—age, location, buying habits, interests, and hobbies.
Then, tailor your content to meet their interests. If your blog posts aren’t interesting or relevant, readers are likely to leave your website.
Create Content That Satisfies Reader Intent
A big thing to remember when blogging is that your articles need to meet reader intent. Your potential customers are searching on Google, looking for specific information—when they click on your page, are they getting the information they need?
Your posts should be thorough, informative, well-written, and provide the answers to the questions your customers are looking for.
Ideally, they will then stick around your website long enough to make a purchase, or at least sign up for your mailing list. If you’re new to this, learn more about content marketing here.
Post Consistently
For your blog to stay relevant, it’s helpful to post consistently, ideally at the same days and times each week. This way, your followers will always know when they can come by to check out your newest content.
How often should you be posting? While it’s not an exact science, experts recommend aiming for 3-4 times per week, or 4-5 times a week for large companies, if your aim is increasing traffic.
If your aim is brand awareness, you can probably post less often.
Become a Keyword Expert
If you want your blogs to drive traffic, you need to master SEO and keywords. Keywords are words or phrases people are searching for in Google.
It’s helpful to use a keyword research tool to find competitive keywords that your blog can rank for, then use them to structure your blog.
Say you are a local chocolate shop. Trying to rank for the term ‘chocolates’ is near impossible, but you probably have a good chance of ranking for something more specific, like ‘chocolate shops Richmond’.
Create a Winning Content Blog Strategy with These Tips
As you can see, there’s a lot to think about when creating a successful blog content strategy. Use the tips above to get started by making a plan and content schedule, outlining what you’ll post and when.
It may seem like a lot of work, but once you’re organized and have a plan in place, you’ll be on track to growing your website and increasing sales with content marketing!
